Bread Sauce. — No recipe for this delicious sauce is equal
to Wyvem's. If it is carefully followed Bread Sauce in future
will never be the “ spiced bread poultice ” it has too often
resembled in the past. No trouble should begrudged in follow-
ing the recipe exactly. Wyvern says the backbone of Bread
Sauce is the flavouring of the milk with which it is made.
That being done it must be carefully strained into a clean
saucepan, and the saucepan set in the bain-marie to keep hot.
Then have ready stale finely-sifted white crumbs which have
been dried in the oven.✪ Bread Sauce At the time of serving bi’ing the milk
nearly to the boil, and stir into it, off the fire, sufficient crumbs
to bring the mixture to the consistency of an ordinary puree,
but on no account any thicker. Finally, finish it off with a
good tablespoonful of cream at the last moment before serving.
In the absence of cream the yolk of one egg, beaten up in a
little warn milk till it looks creamy, may be added, off the fire,
just at the last, but cream should be used if possible.
To flavour the milk you must take a three-ounce onion, peel
off the outside skin, blanch it for five minutes in scalding water,
then cut it into quarters, and put them with a dozen pepper-
corns, six cloves, a blade of mace, a pinch of grated nutmeg, and
a saltspoonful of salt, into a saucepan containing not less than
half a pint of good milk. The utmost care is now necessary,
for milk boils up so rapidly that you must watch your saucepan
narrowly, and use a veiy low fire to control the boiling stage.
Remove the pan as soon as the surface of the milk looks frothy,
let it cool a little, and replace it, continuing thus until the
flavour is extracted, adding a little milk from time to time to
make good the loss by evaporation. Strain it off through a
piece of muslin into a clean saucepan, bring the milk nearly to
the boil, stir in the crumbs off the fire, as has been described,
and at the last moment add the cream. (I have given
Wyvem’s exact flavouring, but I confess that I omit the cloves
and nutmeg myself.) Milk is essential ; water makes a bread
poultice and not bread sauce✪ Bread Sauce. The reason for stirring the
BREAD SAUCE
261
crumbs in off tbe fire is to get a sauce in which crumbs are
plainly present as crumbs , and not as a pulp of bread and milk.
If the sauce is made early and set to wait in the bain-marie
the crumbs will get sodden, and will soak up the milk. Half
a pint of milk used in Wyvern’s way will make Bread Sauce for
six people. If any is left it makes excellent panada for
quenelles, or can be used in shells with pounded chicken or
game. The usual quantity of crumbs to allow is two ounces to
half a pint of milk. Bread Sauce should be as thick as rich
cream.
Page 179 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Bread Sauce. — No recipe for this delicious sauce is equal to Wyvem's. If it is carefully followed Bread Sauce in future will never be the “ spiced bread poultice ” it has too often resembled in the past. No trouble should begrudged in following the recipe exactly. Wyvern says the backbone of Bread Sauce is the flavouring of the milk with which it is made. That being done it must be carefully strained into a clean saucepan, and the saucepan set in the bain-marie to keep hot. Then have ready stale finely-sifted white crumbs which have been dried in the oven. At the time of serving bi’ing the milk nearly to the boil, and stir into it, off the fire, sufficient crumbs to bring the mixture to the consistency of an ordinary puree, but on no account any thicker. Finally, finish it off with a good tablespoonful of cream at the last moment before serving. In the absence of cream the yolk of one egg, beaten up in a little warn milk till it looks creamy, may be added, off the fire, just at the last, but cream should be used if possible.
To flavour the milk you must take a three-ounce onion, peel off the outside skin, blanch it for five minutes in scalding water, then cut it into quarters, and put them with a dozen peppercorns, six cloves, a blade of mace, a pinch of grated nutmeg, and a saltspoonful of salt, into a saucepan containing not less than half a pint of good milk. The utmost care is now necessary, for milk boils up so rapidly that you must watch your saucepan narrowly, and use a veiy low fire to control the boiling stage. Remove the pan as soon as the surface of the milk looks frothy, let it cool a little, and replace it, continuing thus until the flavour is extracted, adding a little milk from time to time to make good the loss by evaporation. Strain it off through a piece of muslin into a clean saucepan, bring the milk nearly to the boil, stir in the crumbs off the fire, as has been described, and at the last moment add the cream. (I have given Wyvem’s exact flavouring, but I confess that I omit the cloves and nutmeg myself.) Milk is essential ; water makes a bread poultice and not bread sauce. The reason for stirring the
BREAD SAUCE
crumbs in off the fire is to get a sauce in which crumbs are plainly present as crumbs , and not as a pulp of bread and milk. If the sauce is made early and set to wait in the bain-marie the crumbs will get sodden, and will soak up the milk. Half a pint of milk used in Wyvern’s way will make Bread Sauce for six people. If any is left it makes excellent panada for quenelles, or can be used in shells with pounded chicken or game. The usual quantity of crumbs to allow is two ounces to half a pint of milk. Bread Sauce should be as thick as rich cream.
Records on this page
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